WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING?
BIBLE PASSAGE:
“…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how
wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…”
(Ephesians 3:17-18)
MEDITATION:
Pop singer, Tina Turner, had a song titled,
“What’s Love Got To Do With It?”
That song included these lyrics,
“What’s love but a second-hand emotion?”
“Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”
“What’s love but a sweet old-fashioned notion?”
In summary, these words are saying, “We don’t need love”.
But God tells us of the importance of having love in our lives.
Have you ever thought about measuring the size of someone’s love?
We might be able to sense if another person loves us, but measuring
their love is impossible, isn’t it? Actions can be an expression of love,
but love is a feeling, and how can that be measured?
We can try to estimate the sincerity of someone’s love by their words
and actions, but exact measures of the size of their love is something
that cannot be calculated. If their words and actions show love, then
we can assume they have love. But have you considered this: if we
don’t have love in our own hearts, we may not know what to look for
as an indication of love in others.
Some say that in order to receive love, we need to give love. That means
that we need to express love through our words and actions, doesn’t it?
How could we describe love? It is an emotion and a feeling felt for
another person, right? Webster defines it as
“A variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes”
Feelings, states, and attitudes can be detected in others, but none
of them are measurable. Restricting any of them, or love itself, to
some precise measurement is impossible.
When God says He loves us, it means He has an emotional
connection with us. When we love someone, we connect
with them emotionally, and we consider them important
to us. God considers us important to Him and His earthly
ministry. He loves us and wants us to emotionally connect
with Him!
Meditate on that for a moment.
God loves you so much and considers you important enough
that He wants what is best for you. Not only that, but He also
wants you to join Him in a place called heaven at the end of
your earthly journey.
Some people may ‘give up’ on a loved one who keeps doing the
wrong things, but God doesn’t give up on us when we fall into
sin. It’s as if He is cheering for us to get up and get out of sin.
Why? Because He doesn’t want us to face the consequences of
our bad choices now, and even worse, when we step into eternity.
Look at how God feels about you and your destiny:
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise,
as some understand slowness. Instead He is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9)
Sometimes people say they love us, but their actions fail
to support their words. But look at God’s actions and
how convincingly they support His words.
For God so loved the world that He gave
His one and only Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
If we expect to better understand the magnitude of God’s love for us,
the scriptures tell us we need to be ‘rooted’ and ‘established’ in love.
That means when we are saved, we have a capacity to love, and we
show our love by the way we live and interact with others.
Unless we understand love as an action of giving, we will struggle
understanding it from a receiving perspective. In other words, we
may expect love from others without understanding we need to be
givers of love.
In order to have love and show it, we are given a prerequisite
which is, Christ needs to dwell in our hearts. It kind of makes
sense doesn’t it? Since God represents the epitome of love, we
must have love, if we want to know Him.
Whoever does not love does not
know God, because God is love.
(1 John 4:8)
When Christ lives in our hearts, we have love, we show love,
and we give love. And, as a result, we are told that we will be
able to understand the magnitude of God’s love. If He doesn’t
exist in our hearts, then we are left with our own interpretation
of His love (which will fall far short of an accurate understanding
of His love).
The scriptures don’t tell us we can precisely measure the width,
the length, the height, and the depth of the love of Christ; His
Word tells us that we will be able to grasp the vastness of His
love. When we understand the magnitude of His love for us,
we are growing in our relationship with Him.
Since the starting point of love is to have Christ in our hearts,
how can we invite Him into our hearts and allow Him to dwell
within us? It’s a good question and the scriptures give us the
answer. It starts with faith.
If we don’t have a faith in the existence of Jesus, and believe
He was crucified for our sins, resurrected, and is now with
His Father in heaven, then He is not going to live in our hearts.
If He doesn’t live in our hearts, then we will not have the kind
of love He has, and His Word says, we will not know God.
If we do not know God, what should
we expect at the end of life’s journey?
Then I will tell them plainly,
‘I never knew you. Away
from Me, you evildoers!’
(Matthew 7:23)
Compare the previous scripture to this one and decide
which one you want to hear when you see Jesus face to face.
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things;
I will put you in charge of many things. Come and
share your master’s happiness!’
(Matthew 25:21)
ACTION:
Some experts claim that our society is sick. There is a cry to change
society, change the nation, and change the world, but nothing will
change until we change ourselves. It is not something we wait for
others to do first; we need to change ourselves and become people
with the love of Christ in our hearts. With His love, we will be
prepared to obey His command:
For this is the message you heard from
the beginning: We should love one another.
(1 John 3:11)
Ask yourself these questions:
– Where is my life in relation to the things outlined above?
– How much faith do I have in the existence,
crucifixion, resurrection and Sonship of Jesus Christ?
– Have I invited Christ to live and feel at home in my heart?
– Does my life demonstrate love in the things I do and say?
– Do I understand the magnitude of Christ’s love and
its impact on the world in general, and on me specifically?
Pray,
“Heavenly Father thank You for the enormousness of Your
love for me. I am overwhelmed when I realize that You, the
Creator of all things, consider me important enough to be
loved and used in Your ministry. You know me better than
I know myself and I cannot hide the ‘real’ me from You. I
understand that for You to use me to the fullest, I need to
develop and maintain a loving spirit. I know I cannot do
this alone, but Your Word tells me that when Your Son
lives in my heart, it is possible. If I have not exercised my
faith and fully invited Jesus into my heart, I do so right now.
I look forward to a ‘new’ me who is full of love that overflows
and can be seen in my words and actions.”
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